1. Technical Field
The invention lies in the field of lens edging machines for shaping lenses from glass blanks.
2. Background Art
Lens edging machines are well-known in the art, one type being described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,784 to Ramos et al. Typically, a lens is formed from a blank having a certain curvature in accordance with the desired optical focusing power. The curvature of an ophthalmic lens provides a corrective focusing power. The lens curvature for dark glasses or sun glasses typically provides no corrective focusing power. Having formed the lens blank with the desired curvature, the lens must be "cut" out of the blank in a shape which fits into the frame of the glasses. This is accomplished by "edging", or grinding the edges of the lens with an edging tool such as a grinding wheel until the desired lens shape is reached. If the lens is ophthalmic, the edging process may be performed by a lens edging machine of the type described in the above-referenced patent to Ramos et al. which uses a groove in the grinding wheel to bevel the lens edge. Another type of lens edging machine typically employed to make non-ophthalmic lenses uses an apex in its grinding wheel to bevel the lens edge. The bevel on the lens edge enables the lens to fit tightly into the frames of the eye glasses or sun glasses. Both types of lens edging machines rotate the lens blank with respect to the grinding wheel. Simultaneously, as the lens blank is rotated, the machine changes the displacement between the center of the lens blank and the wheel in accordance with the shape of the lens to be formed from the lens blank. In both types of lens edging machines discussed above, the displacement is changed by means of a cam having the desired lens shape which rotates with the lens blank against a stationary surface, as is well-known in the art. One problem with this feature is that the machine operation must be halted and the cam changed each time a different lens shape is to be made. After the lens has been formed from the lens blank, it is beveled, as mentioned above. The lens edge is then smoothed or polished to complete the process.
Current methods of lens edging are plagued by inconsistent quality manifested as out-of-tolerance conditions and non-uniformity between lenses. There are several causes. First, the grinding wheel, which typically is a diamond-like material or any material suitable for grinding the lens, continually wears and becomes gradually smaller during use, resulting in increasing lens size. Secondly, the cam and the surface against which it must move and rub continually wear, resulting in greater slipping and vibration which distorts the lens shape determined by the motion of the cam. The present method is also plagued by high maintenance costs and down-time, due to the fact that the grinding wheel wears out in a non-uniform manner, and must be dressed periodically. Also, as mentioned previously, the wheel becomes smaller with use, and must therefore be periodically replaced before the lens size increases beyond a tolerable limit. Each time the grinding wheel is either dressed or replaced, the edging machine is idle and non-productive.
The inability of such lens grinding machines to consistently produce lenses of the same dimensions arises from the fact that each lens is formed in the same machine at different times in the life of the grinding wheel, the cam and other wearing surfaces of the machine. Alternatively, the same components of different edging machines are at different points of wear so that lenses made on different machines are necessarily of slightly different dimensions. Such inconsistencies create difficulties when attempting to mount lenses into frames.
Another problem is that the rate at which the lens edge is ground must be slow enough to avoid damaging the glass lens material. If in an attempt to boost productivity the grinding wheel speed and/or the lens rotation speed is increased to the point at which sparking is observed during the edge grinding process, the glass material is damaged and rendered useless for high-quality eye-wear. Even if sparking or combustion of small glass particles is not observed, the lens surface may be too rough to be acceptable as a result of grinding the edge too fast. For these reasons, the rate at which the lens is ground is necessarily slow in order to avoid any risk of damaging the glass lens material. The disadvantage is that the slow production rate drives up the cost of producing lenses.
Computers have been employed to assist the lens edging process, as disclosed in the above-referenced patent to Ramos et al. Specifically, a computer is used to position the lens edge directly over the beveling groove in the Ramos et al. grinding wheel in accordance with the lens size, different sized lenses requiring different positions relative to the groove. Also, the computer in the Ramos et al. patent controls the sequencing of operations.